At least three people have been killed in protests by low-caste Hindus across India's Maharashtra state, police say. One person died when police open fired on protesters. Crowds attacked property and set fire to at least two trains on the outskirts of Mumbai (Bombay). More than 50 people, 30 of them police, were hurt in the protests and nearly 100 vehicles damaged, police say. Unrest began after a statue to BR Ambedkar, a low-caste Hindu (Dalit) hero, was destroyed in Uttar Pradesh. Ambedkar, the chief architect of India's constitution, came from Maharashtra in the west of India. Dalits account for nearly 13% of the state's population. Police in Uttar Pradesh state in the north say a number of people are being questioned in connection with the destruction of the statue in the city of Kanpur on Tuesday night. ... http://news.bbc.co.uk

Hundreds of white wooden crosses planted on a quiet suburban hillside have prompted a debate over whether they honor or exploit the memory of troops killed in Iraq.Jeff Heaton, who along with local peace group members started putting up the crosses in early November, sees the effort as a simple tribute."It seemed like it would be a touching way to make people aware of the true costs of the war," he said.But to others, the display, on private property opposite a commuter train station and visible from the heavily traveled highway to San Francisco, is an affront that uses personal grief for political ends."I do not consider this a memorial," Lisa Disbrow, a resident of nearby Moraga who has a son preparing to serve in Iraq, said at a public hearing Monday night....http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/11/29/hillside.crosses.ap/index.html?eref=rss_us

A man has sued his former employer, saying it violated his privacy and civil rights when it fired him because he smokes cigarettes. Scott Rodrigues, 30, says he was fired from a lawn-care job he had for several weeks at The Scotts Co. after a drug test came up positive for nicotine. He said he wasn't told he would be tested for the substance and was told the company would help him quit. Rodrigues' lawsuit, filed in Suffolk Superior Court, claims the company violated his rights under a state privacy law barring unreasonable, substantial or serious interference of privacy, and under other state law. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and lawyer's fees. "In more general terms, this case challenges the right of an employer to control employees' personal lives and activities by prohibiting legal private conduct the employer finds to be dangerous, distasteful or disagreeable," the lawsuit said...http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/11/30/national/main2218378.shtml?source=RSSattr=U.S._2218378

The City of Amsterdam said Thursday it is shutting down nearly one-third of the 350 prostitution "windows" in the city's famed red light district as part of a crackdown on crime in the area. The city said a 2003 law allowed it to deny or revoke brothels' licenses when it suspected operators would use them for money laundering or other illegal financial activity, "which in concrete terms means that those involved won't be able to continue their businesses" after Jan. 1, the city said in a statement. "We're not knights on a morality crusade, and this is intended to target financial crime, not prostitution per se," said city spokesman Martien Maten. "But we do think this will change the face of the Red Light District." The Dutch government legalized prostitution in 2000 with an eye to making it easier to tax and regulate. Even before then, Amsterdam's Red Light District was tolerated by authorities and had become a major tourist attraction....http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/11/30/world/main2218386.shtml?source=RSSattr=World_2218386

Tucked into sleeping bags and munching on boxed breakfasts, rival lawmakers entered their third day of a strange standoff in Mexico's Congress on Thursday, a day before the planned inauguration of President-elect Felipe Calderon. Leftist lawmakers have refused to budge from the stage where Calderon is scheduled to take the oath of office in front of foreign dignitaries, including former President George H.W. Bush. They rejected a proposal from Calderon's conservative National Action Party that both sides step down and let the ceremony be held Friday. President Vicente Fox and Calderon have insisted the ceremony will go ahead as planned and Calderon was going ahead with preparations for his government. He was due to name the top law enforcement and military Cabinet members for his six-year administration. Lawmakers sprawled across the chamber's green leather seats, many with their feet up and newspapers across their laps. ...http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/11/30/mexico.new.government.ap/index.html?eref=rss_world

One day after suspending participation in Iraq's government, the bloc loyal to anti-U.S. Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr announced a possible new political alliance with Sunnis and Christians. Calling the group a "national front," the head of al-Sadr's bloc in Parliament -- Falah Hassan Shanshel -- said the groups would target the U.N. Security Council's decision to extend the mandate of the 160,000 multinational force in Iraq for another year. The formation of such an alliance has been in the works for at least two months, said Saleh al-Mutlag, a prominent Sunni politician and vocal critic of al-Maliki. He called the alliance a nonsectarian, national patriotic front, drawing from different areas of the country and also including secularists, Kurds, Yazidis, Turkmens and clerics. The group does not include the Mehdi Army, a militia loyal to al-Sadr, al-Mutlag said, adding that he believes the militia should dissolve. He said that al-Sadr himself is "not negative" about the alliance and...http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/11/30/iraq.politics/index.html?eref=rss_world